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Beautiful New Addition To The Off Grid Homestead

The day after the latest batch of snow, the chickens needed to be dug out once again, and the solar panels required cleaning. Thankfully, the sun decided to put in a nice, long appearance, bringing the temperatures in the meadow up to a high of 44-46. Not only did this make it nicer to work, it also aided in the snow removal process by melting off some of it.

Once the new snow had been cleared out of the way, it was time to unveil my latest Craig’s List haul . . . chickens! A nearby family had been downsizing and had to get rid of a batch. It was first-come, first-served, and I was able to bring 11 new hens and 4 roosters to the Off Grid homestead. They are a variety of types, but all a year or a little under, so the egg layers will be producing right away. Since they were new, I needed to clip their wings to prevent them from trying to fly off before they became used to their environment. As I did so, the “king” rooster verbalized his feelings about these invaders to his territory.

Before the temperatures dropped for the night, I made sure everyone was settled in with fresh bedding. The original chickens use only one of the three coops, so the new residents just need to choose where they will be sleeping and establish their positions while they all get to know one another.

As a great ending to what was already a very positive day, an update on the solar output showed the batteries were at 71 degrees. That’s exciting progress!